Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti jetted to Paris for an international summit on how cities can help fight the battle against climate change.
While the gathering focuses on climate change, the trip that started Saturday is fraught with implications for a rumored run for president by Garcetti. It could burnish the international credentials of a mayor while highlighting Garcetti’s environmental chops in the face of President Trump’s decision to have the U.S. dump the Paris Accords.
Garcetti is one of 12 members of the steering committee for the C-40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a coalition of more than 90 of the world’s megacities, including Los Angeles. The committee will hold its annual meeting in Paris, where delegates will discuss ways in which cities can honor the commitments of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
“Climate change is an urgent crisis that demands American leadership,” Garcetti said. “L.A. is a leader in this fight. We’re working with partners from around the world to learn new ideas, share our successes, and strengthen the work of cleaning up the environment and protecting health and safety for Angelenos and people everywhere.”
Garcetti is one of several big-city U.S. mayors who have taken on leadership roles on the climate change issue since President Trump announced in June that he was pulling the United States out of the international agreement. He is the chairman and a co-founder of Climate Mayors, a group formed in 2014 that has an added sense of urgency since Trump’s announcement.
Additionally, Garcetti will speak on “Mapping a Path to More Inclusive Mass Transit” at the annual “CityLab: Urban Solutions to Global Challenges” summit hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Atlantic, and the Aspen Institute. Garcetti will join former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and mayors from more than 70 cities worldwide, along with urban experts, city planners, writers, technologists, economists, and designers committed to creating scalable solutions to major challenges faced by cities around the globe.
Garcetti and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo will also sign a joint agreement on cooperation between the host cities of the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics, the mayor’s office said.
Garcetti just returned from Las Vegas earlier Saturday, where he attended the fall meeting of the Democratic National Committee. He is scheduled to return from Paris on Tuesday, but there was no word from his office on whether he’ll make it back in time for Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium that night.